Mount Popa

Having heard great things about Mount Popa; the temple on top of a mountain, I was very excited! We got picked up by our battered minibus (which we were used to now!) and headed forward. Before going to the mountain we took a quick stop to a sugar palm factory and with Steen’s sweet tooth bought pretty much a kilo of sugar with coconut which was very enjoyable.

As we headed up the mountain we could see the golden building from afar however this soon disappeared as we ventured down a dusty, dirty street full of market stalls, people and monkey’s! When the driver told us to meet back at a restaurant in 2 hours we hoped this was not what the path up to and the temple was going to be like – unfortunately it was.

We made our way up the overcrowded steps with market stalls selling tack and food to find a platform in which we had to remove our shoes to walk up dirty, monkey infested steps, trying not to step on any monkey wee or poo this was not a pleasant experience. Once we got to the top, the view was good, however the temple itself was awful. Painted in the same tatty gold we wonder why this is in the lonely planet! Not wanting to stay much longer we walked back down the steps and chose the best restaurant we could. Although the food was not too appetising, nor possibly worth risking for our stomaches, our waitress was quiet amusing. Firstly completely forgetting our order, followed by a very confusing conversation with her about us wanting a coke when she brings out cake and to top it off I ask for salt… she brings a fork… of course! ;-D

After our wait for everyone to finish we sit back in our mini bus ready to leave the driver squeezes in this wife in between him and the passenger and they proceed to have a full blown argument in front of everyone! Only in Myanmar!

Even though this wasn’t the day to be expected we did stop off on the way back and from afar the temple on top of the sheer cliff edges of the mountains did look like a mystical castle J